The University of Colorado has rewarded men's basketball coach Tad Boyle for historic success during the first three seasons of his tenure with a pay raise of more than $700,000 annually, according to a contract released this week.

The CU Board of Regents approved contract extensions through April 30, 2018 for both Boyle and women's basketball coach Linda Lappe this spring. The details of those contracts were only recently finalized and signed.

Both of CU's coaches were making $165,830 in base salary and both received merit raises to $170,805. Each coach had their program ranked in the national polls at points last season. Lappe's team was ranked No. 19 at the end of the season.

Much of the rest of Lappe's contract remained the same, but there were numerous changes made to Boyle's deal, including increases in annual supplemental salary accompanied by decreases in some of the amounts Boyle was eligible to earn in incentive pay in his old contract.

The result, however, is a net gain to Boyle of approximately $700,000 annually, boosting his base salary, supplemental salary for things like radio and television, and non-basketball related incentive salary to $1,490,020 annually.

The raise for Boyle comes at a time when the athletic department is trying to balance its budget after suffering a multi-million dollar shortfall last year mostly due to poor football ticket sales and the third football coaching change in seven years.

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"The basic issue here is paying our coach a basic salary that forms an incentive for him to stay at Colorado rather than structuring incentives to achieve that end," CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said. "We believe this is an important investment in our program and in a coach that we believe is one of the best in all of college basketball."

In addition, Boyle is eligible for incentives related to the success of his team on the court that could boost his pay much higher. Those incentives are for achievements such as meeting certain regular-season win-total benchmarks, winning Pac-12 Conference championships, qualifying for and advancing in postseason tournaments.

Under Boyle, the Buffs have won 20 games in three consecutive seasons and advanced to the postseason in each of those years. Both are firsts for the program. CU has also played in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.

The Buffs finished last season 21-12 with a loss to Illinois in their first game of the NCAA Tournament.

CU also agreed to a clause that will provide an additional $65,000 in assistant coach salaries for Boyle's assistants beginning in 2014.

Lappe's Buffs also have made major improvements. They went 25-7 last season and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade but also lost their first-round game to Kansas.

Parts of Boyle's and Lappe's extensions were first negotiated with former CU athletic director Mike Bohn who was forced out of his job in late-May. Interim athletic director Ceal Barry finalized the deals. The school decided to adopt a policy of renegotiating coaches contracts annually two years ago. This is the third time Boyle's deal has been redone.

While the school is paying Boyle a higher annual salary, one key part of his previous renegotiation was done away with this time around.

Last year, Boyle agreed to an extension that was signed in January this year that included a provision for two big retention bonuses if Boyle remained at CU through the 2014 season and the 2017 season. That portion of the contract was not included this time around.

Another minor change involves money Boyle must pay to the school if he takes another job at any point in his new contract. Previously, Boyle only had a buyout payment in the first three seasons of his deal. Boyle must pay CU $500,000 if he takes another job at any point between now and April 30, 2015. If he leaves after that date but before April 30, 2017, he would owe CU $250,000 and if he leaves before the final year of his deal expires, he would owe CU $100,000.

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